The present invention relates to video conferencing, and more specifically, to an improved technique of providing flexible video conferencing systems by allowing a party to the conference to specify various portions of a signal being transmitted from its conference station which are to be received by other conference stations.
Video conferencing systems have come into widespread use in the past several years, particularly with the merging of computers and telecommunications. Specifically, there are now numerous personal computer type devices which can enable video conferencing over a telephone and/or data network. With Internet use growing at the rapid rate recently exhibited, it is expected that video conferencing systems will be even more widely used.
Basic video conferencing involves capturing audio and video information and transmitting the captured signals to one or more of other users in the conference. Each user in the conference receives and views one or more images, one being transmitted from each of the other conferees. The audio information from any conferee is typically broadcast to all other conferees.
In prior art video conferencing systems, the image and audio from a plurality of video cameras are merged by a conference bridge and transmitted to the numerous conference participants. Typically, the conference bridge and network indiscriminately mix all of the signals from each of the different video camera stations and transmit a composite image to the other stations. There exists no known technique of allowing any one or more users to control the particular signals received by any other conference station.
The above problems are overcome in accordance with the present invention which relates to a technique of permitting conferees to selectively transmit different portions of signals to different conferees. Specifically and with reference to FIG. 1, an exemplary conference among conference stations 101 through 104 is shown implemented via a conference bridge and connections 106 through 109. Such connections may be facilitated over a data network.
In operation, each conference station 101 to 104 may debundle its outgoing signals so that the video and audio, as well as any other portions thereof, are separable by conference bridge 105. Each of the conference stations 101 through 104 may then transmit signals indicating which of the other conferees should receive the audio, which should receive the video, and which should receive both.